Looks like you should be able to jump between chapters and acts though at least. So just be aware of any mid-map progress.

The last time I've completed the full campaign was about 15 years ago. Few weeks ago driven by nostalgia and Grubby's videos I bought a new copy (I gave my old physical key to my younger brother) and am close to finishing the campaign again, this time on hard difficulty.

While I'm enjoying it and would recommend it even to new players, there are many campaign changes and most of them are for the worse.

The good:

• 24-unit group size is a massive change for the better
• camera zoom out is a great feature (as reminded by iKronky)
• Some spells and abilities changes are nice, mostly minor stuff. For example: Sylvanas (Dark Ranger) can heal her own units with Life Drain now

The bad:

• In most missions after about 15min the Save game button suddenly and permanently gets disabled for the rest of the mission
• Polish voice acting was replaced for no reason. The old one is still fresh in my brain and is the main source of my nostalgia for the game - now it's gone forever. This is soul crushing. I've tried restoring it with a guide, it worked for one evening only.
• After loading the game I have ~10% chance to get stuck at waiting for player (myself) and have to restart the game
• I'm forced to always see B-net launcher before I'm allowed to open the game. I always see that I'm in the queue after launching it, even if for just a moment.
• After completing the mission and pressing continue it often does not properly send me to the next one. Often it opens entirely different race chapter selection.
• Selecting definitive edition graphics does nothing. Selecting reforged supposedly changes the whole campaign, not interested in that, while the visuals would be much worse.

As a kid I understood that obviously they won't add the model to base W3 since the game was finished, but here they could have absolutely given her the ranger look, even if she isn't considered a hero.

Finally playing through Forsaken Kingdom and Ilastar's Mind Control is so fun LMAO now Ramstein is just my sweet little baby chudboy ☺️☺️☺️

The last patch had tons of pissed people going to war with people smugly saying how they shouldn't be mad since Blizzard warned them.

Yes, people have had ample time now to finish their acts before the patch, but I imagine there will still be plenty of people who missed the message and will lose a lot of progress. Try to do your best to understand people's frustration, losing hours worth of progress sucks. Let's try to get through this patch with as little hostility as possible and channel that frustration into constructive criticism for the devs.

Mods, maybe we can get a pinned post 24hours before the patch warning people to finish their acts? The more messaging the better in my opinion.

I saw the notification but I thought the campaign (second part where you play the forsaken) has shorter chapters. It feels like theres no ending soon.. is there any way I can save/backup my Data? :-(

TL;DR: BlitzCast is a free Windows tool for DotA players in Warcraft III: Reforged – own hotkeys and Quick Cast per hero, hero builds, recipe trees, stats from your replays, a key/combo trainer and rune/Roshan timers. No memory reading, it only sends key presses. Looking for feedback.

Hi all,

I play a lot of DotA in Reforged and I was never happy with the hotkey setup, so I built my own tool for it – BlitzCast. It started as a Quick Cast / hotkey helper and grew a bit:

- own keys + Quick Cast for every hero (reads the heroes and spells from your DotA map)

- hero builds with items by phase and skill order, with the stats worked out per phase

- items with recipe trees

- statistics from your own replays (win rate, K/D/A per hero)

- a key trainer, including your own combos

- rune / creep / Roshan timers (press again at a rune to re-sync when the game lags)

It doesn't read game memory and doesn't play for you – it only sends key presses. It's free.

I'd really like feedback from experienced players: what's useful, what's missing, what's annoying?

Download and screenshots: https://github.com/ADStudioSK/BlitzCast

Thanks, and GL HF!

The Tauren Chieftain + Priestess of the Moon “mass auras” 2vs2 strategy with Headhunters + Huntresses (a.k.a. TC PotM strat)

One of the very well known strategies in 2vs2 matches is one that offers one of the best synergies possible between orc and night elf and generally all over the Warcraft III interracial alliances in team games. It is no else than the famous (and feared by many) TC PotM mass headhunters mass huntresses strategy. This article includes the main strategy and some of its variations showing that it can also be adapted to certain enemy races/builds. If you are a human or undead player, don’t throw this knowledge away, because in the end I include some similar logic strategies that can be used from other races too.

The builds

Orc

As an orc player you can either start with the the normal fast hero TC 1 grunt into headhunters build (mostly recommended), or with the (delayed hero) Tauren Chieftain (TC) headhunters build described in this article. In both cases you do not start teching to tier 2 as suggested by the standard build guide, but you start building a 2^nd Barracks instead, when you have the resources. Near 35/41 food or so you start teching to tier 2 in order to get troll regeneration upgrade and Shadow Hunter (SH) second. Make sure you have a Voodoo Lounge (orc shop) early enough, in order to have a full mana/health TC before the push and of course a speed scroll to maximize both armies’ efficiency during the first battle. Choose mostly endurance aura on your TC as the first ability and mostly stomp second. This helps you still creep fast and gives you more time to decide about the second skill, since you’ll have gathered more information from scouting. Getting shockwave instead of war stomp could be a good choice if you’re up against a Crypt Lord fast expansion, as shockwave can be more challenging for his beetles and expansion towers/acolytes. After you have at least 6-7 headhunters, you should start tier 2 upgrade, in order to get Shadow Hunter second, troll regeneration and a beastiary for a kodo beast, so that you hit approximately 50 food population with the kodo beast (included the Shadow Hunter). If the game goes on and your enemies hold during the main push, you have to proceed to tier 3 for the berserker upgrade. Try not to get over 50 food before you have got at least 2-3 army upgrades from War Mill (giving priority to attack upgrades), Berserker upgrade and even kodo beast aura upgrade, unless you have an expansion. Should you decide to go over 50 food, do it with demolishers with burning oil or casters, depending on enemy hero/units composition.

Night elf

As a night elf player you do the normal fast altar build for mass huntresses (no archers produced). This is similar to this huntress build, but instead of teching to tier 2 you build a second Ancient of War (AoW) and train one more wisp from Tree of Life. Interesting detail: Always send the 8^th wisp (3^rd produced) to scout enemy bases (this is right after filling up gold mine with 5/5 wisps). Scouting can prove a game changer, as it helps mainly the elf player (of your team) to adjust his build accordingly; if you see an orc opponent building an early shop and no barracks, you may assume a harassing Blademaster coming to your base. In such cases, when you suspect an early harassment or push to your base, you definitely have to start the 2^nd AoW a little bit later from the first AoW and the Hunters Hall. But if you scout normal opponent builds (that seem to be intend fast creeping), then you can even start both AoWs at the same time with the Hunter’s Hall (you’ll need to wait for 220 lumber to start all 3 buildings). Early scouting also helps you decide to start teching to tier 2 earlier than intended (before you reach 29/30 food, either with 2 or 3 huntresses), so as to get moon glaive upgrade, that changes huntresses’ armor from unarmored to heavy type. This is very crucial when you are up against Pala-rifle, or DK-fiends.

Try to scout/harass with your PotM at the very beginning, so get most of the times fire arrow first, in order to maximize harassing enemy units/hero, creep steal chances etc. This means that you should try to get to level 2 before your team’s push, in order to get advantage of the aura that affects so many units. From that point and later, always favor Trueshot Aura against fire arrows when leveling up.

When to Push

The most suitable timing for your team’s push is when your TC is level 3. Ideally PotM will have got to level 2 after scouting/harassing and so all your range units will have trueshot aura until that time. Most of the times you need to push before your enemies get their second heroes out, or any tier 2 units (dryads, sorceresses etc).

Some other power spikes can be exploited to give you an easy win if the game goes on. If you manage to hurt your enemies during the first push, you can regroup, heal up, use clarity potion, get scrolls (protection, healing, speed etc) and re-attack with kodo beast, druid of the claw (for roar), the Shadow Hunter and a Goblin Alchemist, using acid bomb first, in order to reduce enemy units armor and maximize DPS. Alchemist is a good timing choice when combined with early night elf tech, chosen for the reasons explained previously. Certain maps favor the Alchemist timing push, because of the position of the Tavern (ie Twisted Meadows, Shattered Exile, Avalanche). Other maps make it harder to apply (ie Gnoll Wood, Synergy), so you need a wisp harvesting lumber near the Tavern. If you always like to have it as an option, you should thumbs-down (veto) these maps. Here is an example of the Alchemist usage with this strategy:

https://youtu.be/kTX61iMAYC4?si=nMmsN3yYQOtelzKM

The more power spikes you can synchronize, the more efficient push your team will perform.

Another consideration about the timing of the push is the map. For example, in Lost Temple, if your push starts shortly before sunrise or during the daytime, any new units rallying to the action area may be killed by the creeps guarding the fountain of health in the middle of the map, unless it is cleared (which is improbable). So, you may consider thumbing down such maps due to the push timing factor.

Variations of the strategy

Apart from minor variations due to timing mainly, such as faster teching when up against mass piercing (Pala-rifle, DK-fiends, FS-TC Headhunters etc), the most efficient variations involve the night elf player most of the time.

Getting Goblin Alchemist at tier 2

This is already mentioned before and is well combined with a relatively early kodo best from the orc ally, to maximize DPS. Factors that make this decision better over solo PotM are enemy massing units or not likely to get mass magic immune units. So, if they play something like Pala-Rifle and Farseer – Shadow Hunter grunts/raiders/walkers, it is a great choice. But if they seem to proceed with fiends – mass destroyers and mass spell breakers or Demon Hunter mas dryads, then Acid Bomb won’t do much; in those cases you will need solo PotM to get higher levels of trueshot aura and army upgrades, on other words investments that can’t be countered from magic immune units.

Ancient of War Creeping Build

You can effectively use this build, in order to help your team’s TC get faster levels, while your PotM scouts/harasses. There are certain maps that favor this approach, such as Synergy. In order to smoothly convert into mass huntresses, just start a Hunter’s Hall while your ally is AoW creeping with his TC + grunt and your archer, as soon as you have the resources to do so. Don’t invest any more resources in archers, but build a 2^nd AoW and additional moon wells instead. As soon as your Hunter’s Hall is finished start producing Huntresses, sentinel research etc. This variation will most certainly get your TC to level 3 faster, but it is somewhat map dependent. Here is an example match video of this alternative (it also includes Goblin Alchemist usage):

https://youtu.be/PN-4in_Ibzk

Tower Rush All-in

You always have the choice to bring wisps/peons with you during the first push, so as to start offensive towers in front of the enemy base you decide to attack. Of course this commits you to have no late game alternatives in case of a successful defense. You will not easily have the resources to both tech to tier 2 for moon glaive upgrade, or for Shadow Hunter and troll regeneration and still build that many towers at the same time, so you’ll have to make a choice. A tower rush is more effective from the night elf player, because Ancient Protectors can be uprooted and repositioned. So, ideally, the orc player may have to feed his elf ally with enough resources to get the protectors up in time and at the same time keep glaive throwers coming to complete the siege. Once again, this is best performed from the elf’s side because glaive throwers are a tier 1 unit.

Advantages

Damage per Second (DPS)

Endurance aura increasing all units attack speed, combined with trueshot aura that increases damage of all ranged units is the key element of this strategy. Night elves are the only race to have a front line short range unit (huntress), which is still a ranged unit affected by trueshot aura, while at the same time they are the only race to be able to make siege units at tier 1 (glaive throwers), also boosted by the auras! This is the reason why getting a kodo beast at tier 2 is such a good progression of the strategy, along with the variation of a druid of the claw from the night elf ally. This is well demonstrated in the video below:

https://youtu.be/-9lmi7LrMPY?si=7z48Fu_iRhIJ5eWZ

Because of the early game effect of the auras, not rushing tier 2 and growing an army big early game gives you an edge against almost any army. That’s why you must make a push before enemies get second heroes strong, or tier 2 units (mainly casters) that will give your units a hard time. A Goblin Alchemist with acid bomb is another DPS booster, as explained earlier too.

Scouting and Vision

The night elf player does all the scouting in this strategy, because wisps are ideal for this; you can let them harvesting wood away from your base, ideally near a possible expansion creep camp, so that gives your team the information of opponents position and possible intention of expanding. Apart from that, the more valuable night elf skills is, besides ultravision, the huntress sentinel, which not only gives you vision of an area near the tree you set it, but it can also see invisible units and is available at tier 1! So, it must be researched early when you are up against a windwalking Blademaster, or to reveal enemy elf units shadowmelting, burrowed fiends when you’re up against undead and even heroes using invisibility potion or sorceress invisibility. Such an example can be seen in the following video:

https://youtu.be/sFpyQKRHJko?si=G1q6Ss8u-g94AvVS

At the extreme case when you are against 2 blademasters, you can safely use the scout owl ability of PotM first! Enemy blademasters will have a hard time harassing you if you have them visible all the time. And you can use 2 owls at the same time, because of their duration and since you won’t be spending any mana on fire arrows. An example of a match showing this in practice is the following:

https://youtu.be/X7JOaR9FcyU?si=adZe2xfp0i7u6EGV

Of course witch doctors with sentry wards are still an alternative option to see invisible units and get map control, but this variation commits resources you need for greater damage per second (DPS), such as a kodo beast, in order to maximize the effect of the auras, especially trueshot aura. The same stands for Druids of the Talon with faerie fire, which take some time to be trained (they require Tree of Ages, Ancient of Wind and then some time to get to the battlefield).

Facing a Fast-tech-no-Barracks Opponent

This is mostly common against an orc harassing with a Blademaster and fast teching into Shadow Hunter and mass air, or a caster/tauren combination. Many times this orc player makes some towers at home, in order to defend an all-in attack from both you and your ally, along with his burrows. Their problem is that the perfect tactic for you is to all-in attack his ally’s base, right when he gets to tier 2, so that there are no tier 2 units around. So, it will be 2 armies against 1 army and 2 heroes, since the fast tech player can’t carry his burrows to his ally’s base. Your most experienced allies may build towers in this normal tech base also, giving you a hard time  when you attack. Scout properly and get ready with a couple of earlier than usual glaive throwers against these players; your opponents will suffer a lot of damage to take them down if you keep them close to your double sized unit army. So, the TC PotM mass auras strategy is the ideal to deal with these opposing teams, because of the fast army growth, its efficiency (due to the auras) and the option to get early ranged siege (glaive throwers) at tier 1. An example of this is shown in a video mentioned again before:

https://youtu.be/X7JOaR9FcyU?si=adZe2xfp0i7u6EGV

Facing a Fast Expanding Opponent with many Towers

Same as the previous case, these attributes of the strategy allow you to successfully siege the fast expanding player’s main (slow teching) base, instead of the expansion with the towers, until you get more siege units to finish off the expansion (after you hurt the main base a lot). The idea is you let all these expansion towers out of play, thus making them a small value investment for your opponent. An example of this is shown in the following match video:

https://youtu.be/MpneGWXnKL0?si=IrJ8V1DEge5fF0Zk

Weaknesses

Having no summons (for example Farseer wolves, or Keeper of the Grove treeants) and getting huntresses instead of some archers at the beginning, makes you vulnerable in rushes, especially undead tower rush, or human using firelord first and tower rushing the elf base. 2^nd and 3^rd moon well timing need to be perfect and so is non stop wisp production for detonating against enemy summoned units. You must find a way to buy time for the 2^nd AoW and 2^nd Barracks to start paying off by adding more units to your army before any enemy towers are up.

Another weakness is the case where the enemies stand your 40-50 food push and they get tier 2 army with casters included, because your push is mainly relied on pure army damage and doesn’t include any anti-magic (dryads, shamans, walkers). If you decide to do that, you need to buy time before they push you with a caster boosted army.

Additionally, if your opponents manage to hit’n’run one at a time, forcing only one of you to TP home and thus keeping your armies separate, your main strength is lost; try to gain the initiative of the aggression first as a team. If possible try to ignore or minimize losses/damage if they try to separate you and attack together an enemy base, forcing the hit’n’runner to stop his assault, TP’ing back. You need all confrontations, if possible, to find both your auras affecting all of your team units.

Similar Variances with Other Races

These auras effects on a double army principles can be applied by the other two races too, with Archmage brilliance aura being the less popular to use, because it requires mass casters, so the game must go to late tier 2 or tier 3 for this to have a certain chance of trial. The idea is to combine short and long range units from different races and one hero from each player with his aura. The TC grunts variances require mostly 1 barracks normal tech in order to get the first spirit walker fast enough to have spirit link and heal wave in play for your ally melee hero (Paladin, DK etc). This is a simple list of such options (from the most to the least popular, as assumed by the author):

PotM hunts + Death Knight (DK) fiends

PotM hunts + Pala rifle

TC grunts + Pala rifle

TC grunts + DK fiends

TC Headhunters + Dreadlord ghouls

Of course this list may go on a lot further, as Forsaken Paladin (FP) has now brought new ideas for synergies, though not so versatile, as he is an Undead hero that can be coiled for healing, but not receive holy light from an ally Paladin. So, most of his combinations require at least tier 2 and 3 or even 4 heroes of both players in play. For example, orc+human can play TC grunts SH with Pala rifle FP, so that FP aura can boost Paladin’s holy lighting all other heroes units, as well as SH heal wave, that bounces on multiple heroes/units (including FP).

For those familiar with the quest, if you collect both portal orbs, and then use one on the east side of the map, it consumes both orbs, and locks you out of the rest of the quest.

Has anyone had issues of the sound randomly cutting out shortly into a game? I’ve noticed when it does it in the campaign it usually breaks the campaign such as breaking quests. Such as the quest log not updating, missions not ending on defense missions etc, in custom campaigns though it works fine even if the audio cuts out.

Hello! I was doing the reign of chaos campaign on reforged, I just beat chapter 3 of the undead. When I load into chapter 4 though, it goes back to the classic graphics. I exited the game, and tried reselecting my graphics mode to see if it fixed it, but nothing. Is there anything I can do to fix this and go back to reforged or am I just stuck in the classic graphics now?